Five Salem County schools chosen to take part in new statewide program to booster performance

Five Salem County schools have been chosen to take part in a new education program.

Five Salem County schools have been listed to take part in a new statewide educational accountability system that is projected to help local school districts pinpoint areas of focus and reward.

The new system is expected to paint a complete picture of school performance statewide.

According to the plan, the New Jersey Department of Education will invest heavily in the state’s lowest-performing schools (Priority Schools) and provide targeted supports to schools with specific achievement concerns (Focus Schools) to ensure all students are on track for college and career readiness.

Reward schools were also listed to showcase outstanding student achievement over the past three years.

Beyond these three categories, the vast majority of the 2,500 schools in New Jersey will not be categorized.

“We are entering a new age of school accountability in New Jersey, one that frees high-performing schools from state interference and defines a stronger investment from the state to turn around pockets of persistent academic failure,” said Acting NJDOE Commissioner Chris Cerf.

In Salem County, Penns Grove High School and Salem High School were cited as focus schools due to low graduation rates.

According to the state, both high schools had a graduation rate lower than 75 percent in 2011.

Superintendent of the Salem City School District Dr. Patrick Michel said the low graduation rate is skewed because of the high rate of mobility at the high school.

“When you have students moving in and out of the district these types of things are going to happen,” said Michel. “We cannot control the movement of the school population.”

Superintendent of Schools for the Penns Grove-Carneys Point School District Dr. Joseph Massare said the state made a mistake in marking the high school as a focus school.

He said the graduation rate there is more than 85 percent.

“This was an error made at the state level that we attempted to challenge, but were unable to do so because we fell short of the window of opportunity to do that,” said Massare, adding the district may still have to develop a corrective action plan, but will do so with the knowledge they are in compliance.

“It was a technicality,” Massare said. “We should not be on the list.”He said the state did not include students that go to the Vocational School or the Academy Programs.

Salem Middle School was also on the focus school list because they contained the two lowest-performing subgroups ranked among the lowest combined proficiency rates in the state.

Schools in this category have an overall proficiency rate for these lowest-performing subgroups of 29 percent or lower.

Michel said the sub-groups that are being compared include either special education or the economically disadvantaged and they are comparing their growth to the regular student population.

“The issue is not equity or access. The criteria has changed to meet federal guidelines,” said Michel. “We are flowing with all initiatives coming down from the department of education.”

Michel said on their last visit from the state involving the Collaborative Assessment and Planning for Achievement (CAPA) review they met 40 out of 40 indicators.

“The state is happy with our progress and we will make the necessary adjustment,” Michel said.

Woodstown Middle School was also listed as a focus school because of the proficiency gap between the highest-performing subgroup and the combined proficiency of the two lowest-performing subgroups.

Schools in this category have a proficiency gap between these subgroups of 43.5 percentage points or higher.

The lone reward school was the Salem County Career & Technical High School. The Vo-tech was a high-performing school.

They were listed as one of the highest-performing in the state, in terms of school-wide proficiency, subgroup proficiency, and graduation rates.

“We can’t take all the credit for this because our kids come from sending districts,” said Superintendent of the Salem County Vocational Technical and Special Services School Districts Dr. Loren Thomas.

“They are educated elsewhere from preschool up to 8th grade, so a lot of the credit goes to the student’s home school.”

But Thomas said the news is a shot in the arm for the district. He said being named a reward school is a pat on the back for the students and the teachers.

“People seem to have this idea that career and technical high schools are the place kids go when they can’t make it,” said Thomas. “We are proving them wrong because we have some of the best test scores in the county.”

The final list of Priority, Focus, and Reward schools was released on Wednesday as part of a new statewide accountability system developed through flexibility from No Child Left Behind (NCLB).